On today’s episode of Stories&Slams, Diana Alvarez—poet and PhD scholar at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute—reads her poem "Love Bomb" from her poetry collection, "Consultations with Bruja Juana" (2009).  “Love Bomb” is about Alvarez’s first queer love. Listen as she gives insight into the story about this poem.

More information about her art and work can be found at www.diana-alvarez.com. 

(Recorded June 13, 2016)


Diana Alvarez - Love Bomb

On today's episode of Stories&Slams, professional storyteller Elizabeth Miller, also known as Dreamweaver, tells the story of how she was born in a cave in New Zealand.

Trained as a teacher and Speech Therapist, Dreamweaver spent over 28 years as Young People’s Librarian, then Children’s Community Services Officer at the Invercargill Public Library.

More information about Dreamweaver can be found at http://storytelling.org.nz/?author=19.

(Recorded October 10, 2016)

Elizabeth Miller - "I Was Born in a Cave."

On today's episode of Stories&Slams, Carol Nyhoff tells the story about how her grandmother came to say goodbye.

Carol is a retired social worker and mother of two. She is also a former board member of the Storytelling Association of California.

(Recorded March 28, 2017)

Carol Nyhoff - "Hi Honi"

On today's episode of Stories&Slams, writer Christian Nagler talks about and reads an excerpt from his debut novel, "Human Capital: A Life."

Nagler is a doctoral student whose works looks at (and performs) the imbrications of embodiment and global economics in his everyday life.

More information about "Human Capital" can be found at www.psoakland.com.

(Recorded March 27, 2017)

Christian Nagler - "Human Capital: A Life"

On today's episode of Stories&Slams, Nyabingha Zianni McDowell performs a monologue from Richmond Renaissance.  Her character, AnnaBelle, is a Black Woman who owns her own juke joint in North Richmond in the 1940's.

Throughout the play, we watch AnnaBelle welcome, employ, feed and educate all of the locals who frequent her establishment. She speaks to the struggles Black women faced (and still face today) at the intersection on racism and sexism, and inspires her staff to reach their full potential as she transforms her trials into triumphs. 

Richmond Renaissance takes place on May 6th and 7th, 2017 at El Cerrito High School Performing Arts Theater (540 Ashbury Ave, El Cerrito).

For more information and ticket purchase, visit: tinyurl.com/richmondrenaissance.

(Recorded March 28, 2017)

Nyabingha Zianni - "AnnaBelle's Monologue"

On today's episode of Stories&Slams, Kabreshiona Smith performs the monologue of "Mahalia" from "Richmond Renaissance."

"Richmond Renaissance" emerges at time when gentrification not only displaces Bay Area residents, but threatens to erase the history of communities. Our multimedia theatrical performance will counter the traditional Richmond narrative of poverty and violence by highlighting the community’s wealthy cultural past as an epicenter for blues, jazz, and zydeco.

"Richmond Renaissance" takes place on May 6th and 7th, 2017 at El Cerrito High School Performing Arts Theater (540 Ashbury Ave, El Cerrito).

For more information and ticket purchase, visit: tinyurl.com/richmondrenaissance.

(Recorded March 28, 2017)

Kabreshiona Smith - "Mahalia's Monologue"

On today's episode of Stories&Slams, spoken word poet TJ Sykes reads his poem, "Mama." 

Sykes is also an actor. He recently starred in "Richmond Renaissance," a multimedia theatrical performance that countered the traditional Richmond narrative of poverty and violence by highlighting the community’s wealthy cultural past as an epicenter for blues, jazz, and zydeco. 

(Recorded March 28, 2017).

TJ Sykes - "Mama"

On today's episode of Stories&Slams, writer Tabora Constantennia reads an excerpt from her memoir's manuscript.  The excerpt takes shape during Constantennia's adolescence, while attending a Detroit-area college prep high school. 

Constantennia currently lives in the San Francisco Bay area where she has worked as an engineer for over 16 years.

(Recorded June 24, 2017)

Tabora Constantennia - "The First Last Day"

On today's episode of Stories&Slams, poet Harmony Holiday reads two of her poems from her latest book of poetry, "Hollywood Forever."

Harmony Holiday is the author of "Negro League Baseball, Go Find Your Father/ A Famous Blues" and most recently "Hollywood Forever."  She is also the founder of Mythscience, an arts collective devoted to cross-disciplinary work that helps artists re-engage with their bodies and the physical world in this so-called digital age, and the Afrosonics archive of jazz and everyday diaspora poetics. 

She worked on the SOS, the selected poems of Amiri Baraka, transcribing all of his poetry recorded with jazz that had yet to be released in print and exists mostly on out of print records. 

Harmony studied rhetoric and at UC Berkeley and taught for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre'. She received her MFA from Columbia University and has received the Motherwell Prize from FenceBooks and a Ruth Lilly Fellowship. She is currently working on a book of poems and lyric essays on Reparations and the body, and a biography of jazz singer Abbey Lincoln. 

She lives in New York and Los Angeles.

(Recorded July 30, 2017)

Harmony Holiday - "Hollywood Forever"

In today's episode of Stories&Slams, writer and founder of "Selfology," Ree Botts reads an excepted from her recent work "ree-centered: a poetic collection of selfology." 

Ree Botts is a poet, scholar, and activist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Ree is currently pursuing a PhD of African Diaspora studies at the University of California, Berkeley. She received her MA of African American Studies and Anthropology from the University of California, Los Angeles. During her undergraduate trajectory as a Sociology and Anthropology major at Spelman College, she was inspired to study Black women's perceptions of self and its impact on their identity. 

She is the proud founder of The Selfology Movement which inspires Black women to become self enlightened through a soul searching process of internal revelation.  

For more information on Ree and The Selfology Movement, visit @reeciology, @theselfologymovemeny, www.reeciology.com, and www.theselfologymovement.com.

(Recorded on January 11, 2018.)

Ree Botts - "Self-o-lo-gy"

On today's episode of Stories&Slams, ministry couple Tabitha and Marvin Zurita tell the story of two young girls who are a part of their discipleship ministry. Their story is about the tragedy and heartbreak that families have experienced in La Comunidad, Guatemala City.

To learn more about the Zuritas and to donate to www.cten.org/tabithazuita.

(Recorded May 14, 2018.)

Tabitha and Marvin Zurita - "Los Seguidores"

Stories&Slams.com is a podcast that focuses on the story behind the words. Whether a personal tale or a paragraph read from a favorite literary text, Stories&Slams celebrates the magic and power of the spoken word. 

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